GOV. SPITZER is hitting up some of the state’s most powerful lobbyists in order to counter the multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign aimed at blocking his proposed $1 billion-plus Medicaid cut.

Spitzer, in a recently sent e-mail to lobbyists and some of his biggest campaign contributors, also seeks money for other prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a candidate for governor of North Carolina.

The solicitations have struck several recipients as hypocritical, because Spitzer repeatedly pledged to end Albany’s “culture of corruption” – in which special-interest lobbyists contribute to politicians in order to gain access to them.

“What do you think the lobbyists think when they get a letter like this?” one senior Democrat asked.

“They think the governor expects them to contribute if they want to get something down the road.”

The e-mail solicits unspecified contributions for a “breakfast meeting with Eliot” – with the funds to be used in the ongoing, big-bucks TV advertising war with hospital workers union Local 1199.

The solicitation, signed by Spitzer campaign finance director Allyson Giard, also seeks contributions for a fund-raising event later this week at Cipriani for Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

It also invites recipients to participate in a private fund-raising dinner Spitzer and his wife, Silda, will host next month for North Carolina gubernatorial hopeful Richard Moore.

*

The already-close relationship between state Republicans and Local 1199 is getting even closer.

The Republicans have begun using 1199’s Albany headquarters for official state party meetings, claiming the party’s own headquarters near the Capitol is too small.

The action has offended several upstate GOP chairmen, one of whom declared, “Union halls are where left-wingers conspire to defeat Republicans and shouldn’t be used to hold our state committee gatherings.”